Since the downfall of Christendom, the UN, the EU, and the United States have attempted fill the void. America in particular has stepped into the role of protector of the common order against the growing threats of terrorism. This has drawn much criticism from those who believe the American government is acting out of less altruistic motives, and has prompted the question: Does the World really need a nation acting as the “Global Policeman”?

It is essential to the International Common Good that order be maintained, and that lawful authority maintain it. So in a limited sense the answer is yes. The US, however is not a legitimate authority in this sense- even less so as the country roles down the slippery slope of immorality at breakneck speed. And really, this shouldn’t be surprising. As a nation attempts to wrestle with responsibilities that were not its own, it becomes unable to fulfill the responsibilities which it is truly bound to.

While the US tries (or had tried in the past) to protect the common order in the face of the vast collapse, this is still a pale (and unsuccessful) substitute for the tradition of Christendom. The threat which we struggle to face was very successfully countered; countered by the legitimate authority. The Holy Roman Emperor, the Defender of the Nations of Christendom, did know that his mission was to protect the Common Good, and true Morality was integral to his office. The Emperor, the Commander of the Armies of Christendom, could and did lead the West to victory, and certainly did this better than any “Global Policeman”.

All of Modern Political Thought (based on Modern Philosophy) has been neatly summarized in a diagram known as the Pournelle Axes:

Yet all this diagram presents is a choice of evils, absolute Statism on one hand and absolute Anarchism on the other; the State as the absolute good or the Individual’s Destructive Tendencies, neither of which is ordered toward the Common Good, which is and must be the true end of all governance. Continue reading →